No. 3 Bulldogs Second at ICSA/Gill Coed Dinghy National Championships

Joe Morris and Mike Hession.

Jun 03, 2009

June 3, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO - The No. 3 Bulldog coed sailing
team finished up competition at the ICSA/Gill Coed Dinghy National
Championships with a second-place finish, the team's highest finish
in more than two decades. The three-day event, the
premier competition in collegiate sailing, featured three days of
intense racing on San Francisco Bay, with the title coming down to
the last B division race of the regatta.

The Bulldogs competed strongly at the event, sailing
consistently the entire time, a hard feat considering the tough
conditions, which included strong wind and current. The team faced
perhaps the toughest competition at the National Championships in
history because the teams at the National Championships had to go
through both district eliminations as well as the ICSA National
Semifinal events. In previous years, teams solely competed at
District competition for the right to sail at the National
Championships. The new qualifying system, which started with
the 2008 National Championships, ensures that the Championships
includes the top teams in college sailing regardless of
district.

Racing began on Monday with eight races in A and B
divisions. Tuesday's racing added another six races in each
division, with the final four races in each division planned for
the third and final day of racing. After the first day of
racing, the Bulldogs were right in the hunt for the overall title,
sitting in third place behind No. 4 St. Mary's College of Maryland
and No. 1 Georgetown. The Bulldogs, who had placed fourth at
the ICSA/APS Team Race National Championships held at Treasure
Island Sailing Center on May 29-31, moved up in the standings
during the second day of competition, sitting only seven points out
of the lead. The Bulldogs, though, had by then built up a
large cushion over third place Georgetown, leading the Hoyas by 47
points after 14 races in each division.

Ultimately, racing came down to the final day and the Bulldogs
were very close to the overall title, placing second with 199
points. St. Mary's College of Maryland won the event with 179
points. The point total at the end of the day, however, does not
tell the entire story. With only two races left in the entire
regatta, the Bulldog squad led the regatta by a three-point margin.
It was only during the last two races of the event that the
Seahawks pulled ahead of the Bulldogs in the final tally for the
last time.

The entire last day of competition was characterized by strong
performances and close scores. A division opened the day, turning
in a ninth in the first race of the day and a second in the second
race of the day. This 11-point performance left the Bulldogs
tied with the Seahawks in overall points. B division then
took to the water, with the Seahawks edging ahead on the strength
of a seven-point set, compared to the 18 points scored by the
Bulldogs. The A division team, though, then knew that it was
their opportunity to get the Bulldogs back into the game.
Junior Thomas Barrows along with crew Marla Menninger took second
in the third A division race of the day, coming back from a tough
start to pass boats on every leg to get the Bulldogs back into the
competition. In the same race, St. Mary's struggled, placing
13th, giving the Bulldogs a 168-170 lead with only one A division
and two B division races remaining.

In the final A division race, with the wind continuing to build,
senior Jane Macky stepped in for Menninger. While Barrows got
another tough start, starting behind all of the fleet, the duo used
their exceptional up and downwind speed to move up into the lead
and win the final A division race of the regatta. St. Mary's
finished second in this race, giving the Bulldogs a
three-point cushion over the Seahawks with only two races
left. In those two races, the Bulldogs struggled to get off
the starting line and had to battle through the pack each time,
turning in a 14thin the 17thrace of the regatta and a 16thin the
final race while St. Mary's turned in a seven-point set to take the
lead and the overall title.

While the team did not capture their first Coed Dinghy National
Championship since 1975, the performance the team turned in was
still impressive. The second-place result is the best for the
Bulldogs since 1981, when the squad also placed second. The
team's best performance in recent years was a third-place finish in
2007, when Barrows, who sailed A division at this year's National
championship, was sailing in B division.

McNay Family Director of Yale Sailing Zachary Leonard is
proud of the team's accomplishment and excited by the regatta's
result.

"I'm really happy with the way that we performed at Nationals,"
Leonard said. "I knew that if we did everything we could to
prepare, we would be competitive. I really thought that we
could have finished one or two spots higher in team racing or a
couple of spots lower in team racing and still have been pleased
with our results. Everyone really worked hard this season and
always came to practice ready to work. I hope that we can
enjoy the feeling of success and then get back to work next year."

The Bulldogs turned in terrific divisional performances as well,
with junior captain Thomas Barrows along
with crews sophomore Blair Belling, junior
Marla
Menninger and senior Jane Macky winning A
division and the Robert Allan, Sr. Trophy. The combination scored
68 points over the 18 races to win their division by 34 points. St.
Mary's was second with 102 points. Barrows has n! ow been the
winning skipper in both A and B divisions during his collegiate
career. He won the B division title as a freshman with crew
freshman Abigail
Coplin '08. The same skipper has won both A and B
division only six times in collegiate sailing history dating back
to 1937. The last time was in 1964, when University of
British Columbia's Colin N. Park won A division, adding to his 1962
B division title. The A division team had very good boat speed both
up and downwind and frequently was able to make up ground on the
fleet despite not having the best starts. In the regatta's 18
races, the A division team only finished outside the top half of
the fleet once, an incredible display of consistency. They
won five races and were second in a further five. Of the
regatta's 18 races, the Bulldogs finished in the top five in 14 of
th! em. This is the first time that the Bulldogs have won A
divis! ion at the ICSA/Gill Coed Dinghy National Championships
since 1950, when Robert E. Monetti '50 was the skipper.
Monetti also won the division in 1947 and 1948. The Bulldogs
won the national title in 1947 and 1950 and were second in
1948. The team also won the national title in 1949, a year in
which they won B division.

The team also did well in B division, taking fourth with 131
points. Sailing in the division were freshman skipper Joseph Morris along
with crews junior Michael Hession and
senior Grace
Becton. The division was won by St. Mary's with 77
points. The A division combination won one race during the
regatta and had six finishes in the top five. Morris had a
special distinction in the event as a freshman skipper. Only
five other freshman skippered during the ICSA/Gill Coed Dinghy
National Championships, but none of them sailed the entire!
regatta like Morris.

Morris, who won A division at the ISSA High School National
Championships in 2008, was pleased with his and the team's
performance.

"I think that the Nationals went pretty well," Morris
said. "The fleet was very competitive and I feel that I
learned a lot during the event, like how to sail under pressure and
learning how to put points on an opponent. My goal was to get
top five in my division, and I did that by getting fourth, so I was
happy but not satisfied as I think I could have done better.
Once you are in the top three, I think that that is as good as you
can ask for on any given day. It turned out that second was
the best that we could have done at this regatta."

Going into the last two races of the event, the Bulldogs had a
small edge on the Seahawks. Morris knew that this changed the
game in the racing from racing against the fleet to more racing
against the team from St. Mary's.

"It was not until the second day of racing that it became
apparent that our big competition was from St. Mary's," Morris
said. "I knew in those last two races that Michael [Menninger
from St. Mary's] would have a speed advantage because he had 20 to
30 pounds more weight in his boat. My goal in the last races
was to get the first cross against St. Mary's and to send them the
wrong way on the course. Unfortunately, we didn't get good starts
and it didn't work out that way."

Still, though, the future looks bright for the Bulldogs.
Both skippers that competed at the ICSA/Gill Coed Dinghy National
championships return next year along with the crews that sailed the
majority of the races at the National Championship.

Morris feels that the team was on the right track in its
preparation for the Championship.

"Next year, I feel like we should take the same approach as we
did everything right this time around," Morris said. "I want
to get faster and get in better shape, but we did the exact
preparation we needed to. I've had a lot of regattas of six
to seven days in the past, so the length of Nationals was not a
huge thing for me. I think that three things really lead to
our success this season. First, I think was the team's work
ethic, as everyone was completely dedicated on their own and we did
everything we needed to as a team. Second, our two coaches,
Zachary Leonard and Bill Healy, are the two best coaches in college
sailing and balance each other so well. Third, I think that
the leadership from the older kids on the team is great as they
give a lot of guidance."

The Bulldogs will open competition in the 2009-10 season at home
by hosting the Harry Anderson Intersectional on Sept. 12-13.
A number of Bulldogs will continue training for the upcoming season
during the summer by participating in international
competitions.